Considering switching to Dish

[budda]

Did anybody mention that the Dish OTA adapter counts as an extra tuner,or is it 2 extra tuners?. How would one describe the difference in PQ between Eastern Arc & Western Arc? I have Western Arc because that's where my locals are. When I got Dish installed,I was surprised that the installer could find 129. I was expecting & planning for a 2 dish set-up for both Eastern Arc on one dish & 110/119 on the other.

Hopper USB OTA tuner counts as 1 extra tuner. Hopper has a 2 TB hard drive, Gene is a 1 TB. I have two Hoppers with sling and two Joeys,love it! The Super Joey looks cool also. A lot of options.

 

[dwarren2]

The ita tuner works just fine. The only problem is that you can only do a full scan. At this point there is no ability to add a single ota channel. There is an option to do it, but if you try it says the option is not available.
With a roof top antenna and an amplifier, I can receive both Rochester NY (my Dish locals) and Syracuse locals.

 

[KAB]

OTA dongle=1 additional tuner.

 

[darrengs]

I've got both a Genie (HR44) and a Hopper w/Sling on my 73" 3D DLP tv and the only real difference I can tell these days on almost all HD channels is that Dish seems a bit brighter. Not very noticeable on brights scenes, but very noticeable on darker scenes.

SD on Dish on the eastern arc is very much better than the SD on DirecTV and it isn't a small difference.

Interesting, this about as close to a perfect test you can have, D* latest and greatest against E* latest and greatest.

 

[bigjohnok]

I know this is a personal preference topic but wanted to hear opinions from those kind enough to share. Have been on Directv for 8 years and generally happy. Hopper intrigues me but not sure about advantages over the Genie. I do like the option of getting Redzone channel without threatening to cancel.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I am simply weighing options and wanted to see what the Dish folks thought. Thanks for reading.

Mike

I am an internal tech I would recommend calling Dish directly and avoid going through a local retailer, we have more room to negotiate and I have fixed many relationships with customers that have gotten for the lack of a better word screwed by local third party retailer outfits. Plus if you do sign up for service tell the CSR to notate the work order that you want an internal tech, I have had to reinstall to many customers that have jacked up substandard installs from subcontractors.

 

[JSheridan]

I am an internal tech I would recommend calling Dish directly and avoid going through a local retailer, we have more room to negotiate and I have fixed many relationships with customers that have gotten for the lack of a better word screwed by local third party retailer outfits. Plus if you do sign up for service tell the CSR to notate the work order that you want an internal tech, I have had to reinstall to many customers that have jacked up substandard installs from subcontractors.

Don't start that crap!

I've repaired so many pitiful jobs installed by Dish's RSP's which are the local 'internal techs' around here that it would make your head spin.

We all know there are bad and good both in retail, subs and DNS so please stop telling people not to call the local retailer. If you've got a good local retailer you can't do any better. They'll generally give you a better deal and a better install. Around here the RSP is a joke and the subs they hire are even worse. It all depends on where you are as to who you should call.

 

[bigjohnok]

Don't start that crap!

I've repaired so many pitiful jobs installed by Dish's RSP's which are the local 'internal techs' around here that it would make your head spin.

We all know there are bad and good both in retail, subs and DNS so please stop telling people not to call the local retailer. If you've got a good local retailer you can't do any better. They'll generally give you a better deal and a better install. Around here the RSP is a joke and the subs they hire are even worse. It all depends on where you are as to who you should call.

Well I come from the world of navy communications and in my area due to dish hiring requirements, finding someone who can pass a drug test, has a clear back ground and a some what clear driving record is like trying to find a needle in a hay stack. So they end up hiring young kids and not to knock them well they are young kids with no experience. At 35 years old I am the second oldest person in the shop the only person older than me is the Operations Manager.

I live in rural oklahoma where anybody left here worth their salt has a good paying job or moved away. Plus the fact ATT is hiring out field service techs at $25-30 a hour makes it hard to find any experienced communication techs with work ethic. ATT headhunters have contacted me numerous times about coming to work for them but since this is a contract negotiation year with the CWA I will not jump ship until the contracts are negotiated and signed.

Then I more and likely I will jump ship to ATT.

 

[raoul5788]

As far as programming both are the same, a few HD cable channels that one have that the other one doesn't, But mostly the same, but HD locals availability varies by both providers, Equipment wise Dish wins by far, Although the newer Directv Genie HR44 is much faster and smaller than the older one HR34, PQ both look nearly the same on similar channels, But I give the edge to Directv although not all HD channels are equal, With Dish you can add up to 3 Hoppers possibly more, With Directv is 1 Genie per account, But with the Genie you can mix with any receiver you want, Dish is only Hoppers and Joeys, with 211k for RV tailgating.

Ask any sports fan in the NYC dma if the programming is the same.

 

[mike6097]

I am still on the fence but that fence is swaying towards Dish. I am intrigued by the Hopper and the remote viewing capabilities. I have heard folks mention a promotional deal for new subs that will take an additional 50.00 of at time of sign up. Is this still an active promo? I just called DTV and I am still under contract until August due to a NFL Sunday Ticket special I accepted back in August. Been with DTV for 8 years now and honestly it feels like now is the time to go Dish. Only 10.00 per month for early termination so the 50.00 would make it a wash if not a positive swing for me. Thanks for your replies!

Mike

 

[KAB]

Contact DIRT if and when you decide to jump the fence.

 

[lparsons21]

You could use one of the refer a friend that I and others have in our signature. that gets you $50 off the first bill.

 

[trido]

can you use the ota adapter when the dish is out while raining for example?

also will super joey see ant channels in the guide?

Hopper USB OTA tuner counts as 1 extra tuner. Hopper has a 2 TB hard drive, Gene is a 1 TB. I have two Hoppers with sling and two Joeys,love it! The Super Joey looks cool also. A lot of options.

 

[dwarren2]

Yes you can. But it takes a very heavy rain storm and then it is usually only for a few minutes. If Dish looses the HD signal due to rain, it will usually switch to a SD signal.